American University, Washington College of Law Forum

[CAsun83]

Just curious about peoples thoughts about this school.

[Rigo]

One of the shittiest law schools.

[Mullens]

Just curious about peoples thoughts about this school.

If you came back to TLS just to talk shit about American (which seems pretty obvious from your profile), you're preaching to the choir.

[CAsun83]

Just curious about peoples thoughts about this school.

If you came back to TLS just to talk shit about American (which seems pretty obvious from your profile), you're preaching to the choir.

what gave you that idea?

[Rigo]

Don't be coy, OP. What's your experience with American?

[BaberhamLincoln]

He's prob the American dean who wrote that stuff posted in the other thread lol

[Rigo]

He's prob the American dean who wrote that stuff posted in the other thread lol

Doubtful given his pretty scathing profile.

[BaberhamLincoln]

He's prob the American dean who wrote that stuff posted in the other thread lol

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... t=American

Found it



Lol at the profile. Wow

[TheSpanishMain]

It's expensive and has terrible job prospects. What else is there to say, really?

[timbs4339]

American might be unique among supposedly "respectable" law schools in that it appears to have totally abandoned any pretense of trying to maintain selectivity or ranking and instead utterly focused itself on maximizing revenue.* It's had a slight class size decrease (500 down to 470) but HOLY SHIT IT IS STILL SENDING OVER 400 STUDENTS PER YEAR INTO THE DC MARKET even if you count attrition/transfers. It's LSAT/GPA numbers have taken one of the sharpest drop-offs of any of the ABA accredited law schools and it is notoriously stingy with aid. And let's not even start with the 44% employment rate (33% w/o counting school-funded jobs).

American is an example of what happens when a school stops caring about USNWR. Applicants shouldn't rely on it, but to the extent that deans and boards of trustees do, it gives them some incentive to keep class sizes low and give out scholly money. There's an argument that USNWR contributed to the cost run up in the first place (in my mind easy gov't loans and the natural greed of professors and deans had more to do with it) but in a time of low applicants it's a bigger benefit than a curse.

*It may be that whoever is in charge has determined that they are willing to lose a few spots due to LSAT/GPA and job prospects, but to the extent their score is 40% based on academic/professional reputation surveys, and those don't tend to change much over time, there's a floor that they will probably hit at some point but it won't be too bad. Who knows how this will play out.

[Paul Campos]

Let's take a look at TLS's own evaluation, from the Law School Profiles section:

Such high tuition begs the question of worth. Specifically, potential students will wonder how well a degree will prepare them to pass the bar and find that dream job. Well, only about 87% of students passed the bar, which is most commonly taken in New York, Maryland, or Virginia. And the average starting salary-$90K for the private sector in 2007-does not compare to that of schools which are comparably expensive.

To conclude that career prospects are grim, however, would be incorrect. Around 93% of graduates have employment secured within nine months of graduation and American University Law School places fairly well nationally-to a much larger extent than most schools which are comparable in reputation and ranking. Even though 70% of students stay in the South Atlantic region, finding work mostly in D.C. and Maryland, the rest of the graduates spread themselves up the East Coast and even in the Pacific region (6% as reported by US News). Further, the median for public service work, around $53,000, is comparable to that of many top-14 schools. So, while not every student finds their dream job, it seems that if one does well at American, the opportunities for success abound.

Sounds pretty good!

[Rigo]

Yeah the TLS profiles are pretty bad and misleading.
When I first stumbled onto TLS it was to read my local TTT's profile and it sounded pretty darn good when in fact it's actually horrible.

[thebobs1987]

Let's take a look at TLS's own evaluation, from the Law School Profiles section:

Such high tuition begs the question of worth. Specifically, potential students will wonder how well a degree will prepare them to pass the bar and find that dream job. Well, only about 87% of students passed the bar, which is most commonly taken in New York, Maryland, or Virginia. And the average starting salary-$90K for the private sector in 2007-does not compare to that of schools which are comparably expensive.

To conclude that career prospects are grim, however, would be incorrect. Around 93% of graduates have employment secured within nine months of graduation and American University Law School places fairly well nationally-to a much larger extent than most schools which are comparable in reputation and ranking. Even though 70% of students stay in the South Atlantic region, finding work mostly in D.C. and Maryland, the rest of the graduates spread themselves up the East Coast and even in the Pacific region (6% as reported by US News). Further, the median for public service work, around $53,000, is comparable to that of many top-14 schools. So, while not every student finds their dream job, it seems that if one does well at American, the opportunities for success abound.

Sounds pretty good!

Ouch. Not just American, but so many law school profiles on this site need to be updated. They're often pre-recession and with info that is pre-LST. And I am sure the majority of prospective law students that come to TLS just read those and not forum discussions